Video of Digby speaking at the Gala Dinner at Take Back America 2007 in Washington, DC - June 19, 2007

The TBA Interview: Digby

Jun 19, 2007 at 07:45 PM by Isaiah Poole

A short, unassuming woman blended into the large audience that sat through a panel discussion I moderated on Tuesday, “The Blogosphere: From Ideas to Action.” It was not until the panel ended and I was rushing out of the room that I happened to notice the name on her tag: “Digby.”

Digby had amassed a large following and deep respect in the progressive blogosphere for insightful, passionate writing on political issues, but before Tuesday no one knew the person behind Digby. That night, Digby revealed herself to the world and gave a rousing speech about what progressive bloggers have contributed to the movement as she accepted, on behalf of progressive bloggers, the Paul Wellstone Citizen Leadership Award. Earlier in the day, I was able to spend a few moments chatting with Digby

Thursday, June 07, 2007

We are working with Michael Moore and an unprecedented national coalition of activists, nurses, doctor, patients and health care activist groups to ensure SiCKO has a long-term impact on our nation’s healthcare system and politics.

It’s an incredible opportunity for patient advocates and it’s only missing one element: you.

What are you doing the evening of Friday June 29th?

We are working on events with Michael Moore throughout the U.S., and are launching a national campaign to promote single payer as the "cure" for our "Sicko" health system. We need you to join us in taking advantage of this tremendous opportunity.

Please sign up to help today and we'll send you more frequent updates as the campaign unfolds. Go here to sign up:

No date that Friday? Maybe you'll meet a rich nurse or a cute doctor :)

Let' prove we are not just sit on our butts keyboarding-only phony activists!

Let's go do something in the real world!

Michael Moore's SiCKO Movie Premiers Nationwide June 29, 2007, and that evening is our first big national action, we aim to have a registered nurse, doctor, patient, or other patient advocate (one way or the other that means YOU!) at every SiCKO opening night around the country.

We will be there to greet the audience, hand out flyers as they leave, perhaps testify to the tragedies witnessed on the front lines of America’s healthcare meltdown. Most of all, they’ll be there to convince the moviegoers that we can make change happen starting now.

This is a historic opportunity to turn movie audiences into patient advocates and healthcare reformers—but we need your help! We urge activist movie-goers to attend the screenings and distribute information about how we can solve the healthcare crisis by supporting guaranteed healthcare on the single-payer model. Sign-up with here, and we’ll send you specifics along with a PDF flyer to hand out soon. Purchase your movie tickets, print and distribute our PDF flyers (when available), and bring friends! Thank you.

This call for 3,000 SiCKO activists for June 29th is the first activity in a national campaign that includes screenings, premiers, marches, protests, legislative briefings, and press conferences around the country. The fun kicks off in California June 12, when Moore will give a special legislative briefing to the California Senate before being escorted by 1,000 registered nurses to an exclusive screening of SiCKO for healthcare providers and activists.

Wear something red, scrubs if you have them, and as the event draws near, we'll send you links to download "red scrub" buttons, fans, and handouts. Once the movie schedule is announced, we’ll send you everything you need. All you have to do is round up a couple buddies and, when possible, buy your tickets online.

Here’s the plan:

Friday night, June 29th, we aim to have a registered nurse, doctor, patient, or other patient advocate at every SiCKO opening night around the country. They’ll be there to greet the audience, hand out flyers as they leave, perhaps testify to the tragedies witnessed on the front lines of America’s healthcare meltdown. Most of all, they’ll be there to convince the moviegoers that we can make change happen starting now. Please go here to sign up.

Why SiCKO? Because it puts on the big screen what nurses see every day: a healthcare industry that has abandoned its caring mission in favor of the pursuit of profit at any cost. For the first time, patients and caregivers have a voice, and we need to use it to demand an end to these abusive healthcare corporations. SiCKO changes everything.

And that’s why we have a chance to change healthcare politics in this nation. The insurance industry and drug companies are already worried. All we need now is for you to help us make SiCKO’s opening night a truly transformative event. There has never been a national moment like these simultaneous 3,000 screenings. This is our chance to change the world. Let's take it.

In his brilliant new documentary Sicko, Michael Moore gets it completely right. The problem is not enough insurance or even making insurance "affordable." It’s the insurance industry itself. Until we can pry our health out of the cold, cruel hands of the insurers, the system will never fundamentally change, and millions of Americans will continue to be abandoned and mistreated. Moore explains with heart wrenching profiles of people with insurance who are nonetheless denied the care they need. None of those individuals need more insurance, they need more care. He then deconstructs the insurance based system to show us how it works, and how the industry maintains its power through the buying and selling of Congress. And, Moore contrasts our healthcare debacle with other industrialized countries where enriching the private insurance industry is not the first focus of healthcare policy.